Tarita Pakrashi

My experience trying to conceive is from a multi-disciplinary approach, as I have several specialists working together to ensure a safe future pregnancy due to health conditions I live with. She is willing to compromise with other doctors and cater to their concerns as they arise, and the best part is that I have reassurance that none of these small hurdles will interfere with fertility treatments. She puts the patient's health above all and wants the patient to live a fully normal life, unlike many other reproductive endocrinologists who set limit upon limit during the course of your cycle.

Voice your concerns. She is always willing to listen and help out, so there's no need to hide your insecurities, frustrations or concerns.

Dr. Pakrashi is one of the warmest souls you'll meet in one of the toughest situations you'll find yourself in. She enters every room with a smile, repeats your name often in dialogue, which reassures me she's constantly active in your case. She talks about helping families conceive with passion, empathy and compassion. There's nothing more I could ask for in a doctor in this scenario.

On cycle day(CD) 1, I call the office to schedule an ultrasound. On CDs 3-7, I take 5 mg of letrozole. Around CD 12-13, I go in for an ultrasound. Usually it's CD 11-12 for others, but I tend to ovulate later. Based on the ultrasound, I may have to come back if the follicles and lining are not the right size. Otherwise, I will be instructed on taking ovidrel. Twenty four to 36 hours or so later, I will go in for IUI. Two days later, I will start progesterone. Fourteen days after that, I will test at home. If negative, I stop progesterone and call on day 1 to repeat cycle. If positive, I go in for a blood pregnancy test. I'm not sure what happens after that. Letrozole has done wonders for my ovulation ability. I used to not ovulate, but now I'm producing one or two mature follicles, which makes me feel confident I'm going in the right direction.

I've most most, if not all of the nurses and they are all very friendly. Heather responds within a day or two if I send a message through the portal, which is what I look for in any doctor.

Everyone at the clinic, from the front desk to the doctors are so warm and friendly. I don't see any weaknesses from this practice, even if I haven't received the results I wanted... yet. They give me the confidence and strength that I need each month to keep on.

Ultrasounds (if not paid for by insurance) are $190...luckily mine are covered. IUI(self-pay) is $255. I pay $55 for them to wash my husband's frozen sperm along with that. He gave a sample and is storing it in the cryo lab. He gave enough for 6 vials to be stored. For a year of storage, we paid $450. Everything requires payment up front. I was told only with IVF do they offer payment plans.

There are no weaknesses I can report on. My first doctor, I felt like a number. He didn't deter from treatment protocol based on my response of first IVF to our 2nd. I had seen Dr Pak a few times during the course of my treatments and knew I wanted her to head my 3rd IVF transfer. We changed protocol completely based on my previous responses. I was worried that I might be resistant to clomid so she suggested a trial run with timed intercourse to see my response before we moved forward. She is a great listener. She is compassionate and truly wants what is best for you. She allows you to be an advocate for yourself. She will discuss research and new studies with you. Etc. She encourages you to do your own research and will talk to you about your findings. She is top notch and I am hopeful for this next round.

If you have questions, don't be afraid to ask. If there is something you want to try, don't be afraid to ask. She is warm and inviting.

Dr Pak is so caring. She genuinely wants you to get pregnant and listens to you. As women, we understand our bodies and she listens to all your concerns and adjusts treatment based on response and your input.

We have not started our cycle but did do a clomid test trial and I responded beautifully. I am considered a poor responder and my last 2 IVF I was on max dose. She suggested a clomid/menopur min stimulation. I responded beautifully in our clomid test run, better than my IVFs. We are looking forward to our new protocol and hopeful we will get pregnant.

Always caring and compassionate. They are rooting for you!

Weaknesses: nurses station could do better with call backs and reading notes. Really the only negative thing I can say. Strengths: nurses have great bed side manner when you are present. Work hard to get you in and out in a timely manner. They do well in relaying messages to the doctors.

IUI $600 IVF range $6500-8000

She lets you decide. But the clinic won't transfer more than 2.

Dr Pakrashi is very compassionate and obviously cares for her patients and their outcomes. She listens and is very personal. She completes follow through by personally calling me to inquire how I'm feeling and be sure I understand the next step in the IVF process. Our situation is unique in that prior to IVF we had 2 pregnancy losses. After that we used clomid and had our daughter in 2013. Wanting 1 more child and a sibling for our daughter, we tried to conceive again. Sadly we went on to have three pregnancy losses over the next 3-4 years, all three males diagnosed with arthrogryposis. Test after test left us with no reasoning why the reoccurrence happened. Heartbroken, but wanting to give it one last attempt to complete our family we looked into IVF with gender selection. Through many years of genetic counseling we thought if we could choose a female embryo that we could finally complete the family we have dreamed for (and stop the gut wrenching pain of recurrent loss). Dr Pakrashi listened, showed empathy and gave us hope. We could only financially do 1 IVF cycle, unfortunately there was not a normal female embryo for FET. Dr Pakrashi and the embryologist personally called to speak with us about our results in detail.

IVF was new for us. I thought I had read everything before I went in for the consultation and would remember what to ask. I would advise a prospective patient to bring your questions written down and have a notebook to take notes.

She is kind, warm hearted, personal, and provides quick responses and follow through. She calls you personally and stays in touch.

Menopur 150 morning and night Gonal F 300 units morning and night Cetrotide 0.25 mg x2 doses Lupron 40 units x 2 doses Started day 3 of menstrual cycle 13 eggs retrieved, 9 fertilized, 6 biopsied, 2 females, 4 males. No viable embryo for FET.

Lena was kind and on top of things. She went out of her way to make sure I understood everything. She was very personal and eager to help.

Strengths in this clinic is seen in the team of doctors and their knowledge. The portal used by the office makes it easy to reach out and ask questions with responses in a timely manner. I would have liked more explanations into the way they choose what medications/protocols. However, I don't know that this would have changed our outcome.

$6750- Medications $400- Anesthesia $13,600- IVF circle with FET $600- Pre IVF testing All because our insurance doesn't cover any portion of IVF.

We only wanted to electively transfer 1 single female embryo. Dr Pakrashi agreed with us.

Dr. Pakrashi is very supportive and knowledgable. She has an amazing bedside manner. I have been seeing her for 2 years now and therefore understand how to best communicate with her and receive recommendations. She is friendly and thorough in making sure I receive the care I need. She is also very responsive when I contact her with questions or concerns. I know that she and I share the same goals for my fertility.

Ask as many questions as possible and do not be afraid to re-ask the same questions or have information repeated back to you.

Tarita is very understanding and listens to you as a patient very closely. She was very empathetic and highly responsive to all questions or concerns.

Cycle 1: Letrozole + progesterone since we were still at the beginning of my fertility journey. With the addition of progesterone, I got pregnant, but ultimately it ended in an ectopic pregnancy. Surgery to remove right tube. Cycle 2: Letrozole. We did not add progesterone because I was ovulating on the side where my tube had been removed. I did get pregnant, but also ended in an ectopic pregnancy with methotrexate shot to manage it. Cycle 3: Gonal-F + progesterone with timed intercourse. Levothyroxine added to treat hypothyroidism and reduce TSH levels. The goal was to produce more eggs. However in this cycle it seemed most of the egg production was on my tubeless side. No pregnancy resulted. Cycle 4: Gonal-F + progesterone = IUI. The goal was to produce more eggs again and also plant the sperm closer to the egg. In my honest opinion the IUI concept is flawed and a bit of a waste of money. Perhaps if there had been multiple IUIs done during this cycle, it might have worked, but this resulted in no pregnancy. Cycle 5: IVF using Menopur, Follistim, Ganirellix. The goal was to implant embryos. I was on a relatively low dose of Menopur and Follistim. Despite these low dosages, I was unable to have the Hcg trigger because of the risk of OHSS. Dr. Pakrashi was very attentive in making sure I did not get to sick and was very on top of my care. I used a lupron trigger for the egg retrieval and all embryos were frozen. Cycle 6: Frozen Embryo Transfer using estrogen patches and tablets and Endometrin inserts. The amount of Endomentrin inserts was increased due to not enough progesterone in my system. Cycle ongoing...

Most of the nurses here are excellent. In my first couple of cycles I had some problems with not receiving calls back to messages I would leave. However, in the past 3 cycles communication has improved significantly! Everyone is very friendly and nice.

Strengths: Extensive resources, Easy to communicate with via FollowMyHealth portal, large staff, good equipment Weaknesses: Occasionally long wait times to be seen, expensive, you won't always see your specific doctor, which can be good or bad depending on the situation. Sometimes it's nice to have another doctor's opinion, other times, the consistency of a dr. that knows you is better. BUT you can schedule as best as possible to always see the same dr.

Most of my care was done through claims submitted to my insurance agency and out of pocket expenses. They do not take Tricare, but will submit claims on your behalf. The process is frustrating because you receive checks that then need to be mailed to EVMS.

Dr. Pakrashi sat down with me to discuss the risks and rewards with eSET vs multiple embryo transfer however she ultimately left the decision to me as the patient and I elected to for multiple embryo transfer.

If you want a caring compassionate doctor, Dr. Pakrashi is a must. She is warm and welcoming in a world that seem cold and isolating. I bombard her with questions every visit and she is also so patient in answering them no matter how trivial they may seem. I do feel like there could have possibly been tweaks to my treatment plans as we seemed to keep repeating what resulted in negative test after negative test.

As amazing as she is, you won’t always see her and you may be disappointed with some of the nurses and doctors in the practice.

Dr. Pakrashi has a wonderful bedside manner and seems to truly care about her patients. She welcomes questions and always answers them in great detail.

1) Timed intercourse with Letrozole. 2) IUI with Gonal F and Ovidrel (3 cycles) 3) IVF - gonal f, menepour, progesterone, trigger shot

Some of the nurses are absolutely amazing. Others make you feel as though you are a burden and an inconvenience.

Strengths: multiple locations, compassionate doctors. Weakness: You are not guaranteed to see a specific dr during your treatment and during my IVF cycle I only saw my dr once. Some of the nursing staff can be abrupt. Lack of communication between the business and medical side.

Monitoring appointments were always scheduled in the morning and wait time was on average 30 min - 60 min.

Our IVF cycle was approximately $19,000 including medications (not bought through clinic).

She is thorough, intelligent and extremely compassionate. I feel 100 percent comfortable under her care. She’s always optimistic yet honest at the same time. We have been through multiple failed cycles - both negative and miscarriages- and she is one of the reasons that I have the strength to keep going.

Be upfront and honest about your concerns or fears. She really does care and she wants to know!

She is the most compassionate doctor I have ever seen.

I have PCOS and poor egg quality. Her recommendation was IVF ICSI but we still owe from our last IVF cycle and our toddler is diabetic, so we can’t spend out of pocket money on another. Since I have bad egg quality and I am 39, the goal is to get as many eggs as possible in hopes of finding a good one- like we did with my daughter!

Some are good, and some are just ok. It depends on who you get. I don’t have an assigned nurse bc we aren’t currently doing IVF

Wonderful doctors! They know their stuff- they won’t treat you like a number. Nursing staff could be better. Sometimes they get things confused and don’t follow up in a timely manner— other nurses do- it just depends. At the end of the day- it’s the doctors that matter and these ones are great

We are 100 percent out of pocket do the cost is very high

Dr. Pakrashi was amazing because she was patient, and always took into consideration that this is an emotional time. I wish my experience had been like that from the beginning with others. She made me believe, and now, we have a beautiful daughter!

Be open and honest because she is there to help you through the process! She listens to everything that you say with empathy and compassion.

Dr. Pakrashi was very nice and thoughtful throughout the entire process! She always made sure we understood everything. She also realized that going through infertility is an emotional process, and she made it so much better!

The treatment was specific to me, and the protocol that was used was specific to my body. Everyone on staff was on the same page with the treatment. She knew my history and knew what would work best for my situation.

She worked through everything with us, and it was wonderful.

Everything there was amazing at EVMS! Each person was thoughtful in their approach to us, and it made the process easier. I felt like every person - from the receptionist to the doctor - was thoughtful when you contacted them for any reason.

The billing area was very helpful, and because it is EVMS, I was able to make a payment arrangement.

For us, it was a matter of what was fertilized and the decision was made on what would give us the best viability for pregnancy. Everything was very measured on giving us the best outcome.

Dr. Pakrashi was very kind and always felt like she really cared. She gave us a lot of hope and we plan on doing IVF with her. She also explained everything very well. She took the time to answer all the questions we had.

Write down any questions you have so you remember them all to ask.

She was very kind and compassionate.

We haven’t started IVF yet.

Laughed at me when I asked a question. Acted annoyed and over worked . Also complained a lot

The IVF was very nice and provided a lot of information over the phone and also answered all my questions. Most the nurses and office workers act annoyed like they don’t care at all. Some of the nurse are great.

After IVF would be about 20,000 So far it’s been about 4,000

She is very compassionate and wants us to have another child. I believed she genuinely felt bad when a treatment didn't work. She would call and check on us and always start planning the next treatment.

Be patient

She showed genuine compassion

At times they seemed preoccupied

The cost is very high, but multiple locations made it easy to make visits.

We did an IVF study that cost 4400, most other appointments were a few hundred